Voters expel rogue politicians Espada and Monserrate
By voters Tuesday, leaving in tatters the web of political alliances that had long insulated the two Democrats.. Losing in Tuesday's Democratic primary was Bronx state Sen. Pedro Espada Jr., whose health care clinic in one of New York's poorest neighborhoods is under investigation for $14 million in government grants it received that helped pay for his six-figure salary and $1,200 pinstriped suits.. Also making his exit is Hiram Monserrate, a freshman senator from Queens who was expelled this year after he was convicted in a domestic violence case involving his girlfriend. He tried to get back to Albany with a run for the Assembly, but voters said they had had enough.. Espada was at the heart of a raucous year in Albany, going from Democrat to Republican back to Democrat over the course of several weeks, flipping majority control of the Senate each time and each time collecting lucrative leadership posts.. "The public already believed the legislature was dysfunctional and state government was broken," said Steven Greenberg of the Siena College poll. "Espada and Monserrate became the poster children and intensified that for voters.". Monserrate's bid to return to Albany ended Tuesday in the race for a vacant Assembly seat in the Bronx won by Francisco Moya. Espada lost to Gustavo Rivera.
